Might Mean They're Really Out To Get You
by Funky In Fishnet
Summary: Sonya finds out that Cade LaSalle sometimes spends time in Sebastian's lab and wants to know why no one's talking about it. This is a prime opportunity everyone is wasting.
_**Disclaimer:** I own nothing._

 _ **Author Note:** Sequel to 'Safe Haven.'_

* * *

 **MIGHT MEAN THEY'RE REALLY OUT TO GET YOU**

Sonya pushed open the door to Sebastian's lab. He hadn't called with an update but Brody, Pride and LaSalle were out interviewing and Sonya had done the research asked of her. She needed more meat to go on. Doc Wade was still finishing up the autopsy and Sonya didn't want to lose her lunch.

Huh, weird – Sebastian's lab was empty, apparently. What the hell? Wasn't Sebastian, like, allergic to sunlight?

"Roswell, time to work," she called, in case he was asleep behind a table, again.

There was a noise nearby. Sonya frowned, Sebastian did not do silent, no way, he liked the sound of his own voice and theories way too much. Okay. She pushed a chair aside and wove between lab tables to get a better look. Her hand went straight to her gun when she spotted a stranger curled up real still on a chair near a chessboard.

He wasn't in uniform, he was wearing good clothes but there something...off, in the way he wasn't looking at Sonya and when she tried to catch his eye, it was like he was looking through her, his expression was so empty, so devoid of any kind of happiness. It brought a real heavy chill.

He could be homeless. So how come security hadn't turfed him out? Max was on duty out front and had a thing for people on the property without permission. Sonya remembered hard the lecture she'd been given when she'd showed up one time without the right ID. But this guy got in? It wasn't likely he was stealing anything – what was the point in stealing and then sticking around? Maybe he was just looking for somewhere warm and covered to rest.

Sonya approached slowly, still on guard, when the lab door swung open and Sebastian's voice finally made itself known.

"Okay, I have a couple of po-boys. I can't remember if you had the white last time but-Sonya, hey, what're you doing here?"

Sebastian looked a little worried, dropping a bunch of wrapped food on a table and looking past her at the visitor. So this was a visitor who got food. Sonya didn't take her hand off the gun yet.

"Was just about to ask your guest the same thing," she replied pointedly.

Sebastian quickly scrambled round her, "Ah, right, no firearms, we're good here. Yep, we're good."

He checked on the guy with a really intent look that Sonya hadn't seen Sebastian direct at anything or anyone before that wasn't under his microscopes. She raised her eyebrows.

"You're feeding the homeless now?"

"What? Oh no, he shops at-never mind. Cade, this is the newest recruit to Team Pride, Sonya Percy. Sonya, this is Cade LaSalle."

LaSalle. Sonya took another look. Really, this was Chris' brother? Sonya had heard stories about the things the LaSalle boys had gotten up to together, them and LaSalle's mermaid.

"The brother who-."

"Yes, Chris has talked about him, I know," Sebastian bluntly interrupted with another intent kinda frantic expression. "And we will talk about this after I've given you a non-existent update on the hair follicles you found in that van door."

Sonya treated him to a very amused expression – Sebastian was being _overprotective_. It was cute. Did Chris know? Sonya watched as Sebastian put two po-boys at Cade's elbow. Cade didn't move much, his foot shifted slightly maybe but that was all. Sebastian paused there but didn't say anything; he just sorta _looked_ for a moment. Okay then. He didn't have to say anything; Sonya knew what she'd seen.

She gave Sebastian a glance when he finally came back to her side of the lab but shockingly he actually ignored it, lidded the usual babble and attitude and instead launched into an explanation of what he could find out or guess at at the moment concerning the case. Once he'd wound up, Sonya grabbed his arm and propelled him towards the door.

"Hey, I bruise easily! You could just-."

Outside the lab, Sonya closed the door, " _You_ could just say whatever it was you can't say in front of LaSalle Senior. Come on, I know there's juice."

Sebastian fiddled with a shirt sleeve, his gaze dipping up and down before he answered. Boy was pausing way too much; too much silence from his motor-mouth was a sure sign of something going on. He also couldn't lie to save his life.

"Chris has told you, right? About his brother's condition."

Sonya nodded, "Bipolar, Cade hates his meds. Chris skipped the part where his brother nests in your lab and you look all moony-eyed soap-opera."

Sebastian looked startled and not happy at all. In fact, Sonya was pretty sure she'd never seen him look like that before, not even when he and Patton talked Mardi Gras. This was serious.

"I do not go moony-eyed. Look, when Cade's crashes hit, he turns up here. He finds me soothing so."

Sonya snorted, "You mean you put him to sleep."

"And Chris and everyone else knows not to come into my lab when I put the word out that Cade's here. Didn't you get the message?"

Sonya checked her phone, oh the battery had died. She showed the dead screen to Sebastian. "So you help out Cade with a safe space, and pine while you fatten him up."

Sebastian looked around furtively and then lowered his voice, his eyes...they weren't sad but there was something real melancholy about them and sort of resolved. "Look, whatever you think you've seen, which you haven't, it doesn't matter. Cade's only here when he needs to be and that's fine."

Sonya eyed him uncomprehendingly, "Whoa whoa whoa, Cade's only here when the lows hit. And he's like that the whole time?"

She gestured to the lab door, indicating Cade's silent-and-spooky state. Sebastian nodded. That was...really sad.

"Have you actually had a conversation with him?"

There was that look on Sebastian's face again as he crossed his arms like he wasn't sure what to do with them, "Yes, we play chess and write notes."

"You're serious, no talk, no getting-to-know-you. I thought Chris said his brother liked to party."

"Yeah, that's what I hear but he probably doesn't want to think about these silent days when he's not being silent so he parties out there and hits the highs that Chris really worries about and then he comes down here."

The highs, right. Chris had mentioned those; how Cade had once been redecorating his house completely normally and then within a week, had been crazy-partying with a girl and splashing weird color on the walls, all while claiming to be even and steady again. He hadn't been taking his meds. Chris worried a lot about his brother but he'd told Sonya that things had looked better recently. Maybe because he knew Cade was holing up in Sebastian's lab when he needed a place and space to hide from everybody else. He found Sebastian soothing or whatever, more power to him. It was a good thing, right?

Only Sebastian so clearly felt something more than charity and weird silent friendship for LaSalle Senior. If Pride hadn't noticed…hell, he had to have noticed. So why wasn't anybody doing anything?

"Sebastian…"

Sebastian shook his head, a set to his jaw and a look in his eyes that Sonya knew way too well from a whole bunch of mirrors. "I need lunch; Cade's saving a po-boy for me. We're at the chess tie-breaker. I'll call when there's actual updates."

And he was gone, slipping open the lab door. Sonya stared at the frosted glass and headed straight for Doc Wade's morgue.

* * *

"You went into Sebastian's lab when Cade was there?"

Doc Wade sounded concerned, Sonya shrugged up a shoulder. "My phone died and by the time I got there, Sebastian was on a food run."

Doc Wade looked understanding though the concern hadn't left either, "Well, there's been no calls so I'm sure Cade's fine."

"Yeah but here's the thing. I'm not the only one who sees the way Sebastian looks at Cade, right?"

Doc Wade raised her eyebrows and didn't quite hide a quiet smile, "No, dear, he isn't fooling any of us."

Thank God. "Okay, so why'd he bite my head off when I pointed it out?"

Doc Wade laughed, "We don't _say_ anything to him, Sonya. He's dealing with a very difficult situation – he only sees Cade during his low moments, we see Cade when he's on a more even level, sometimes when he's reaching a manic high. Sebastian doesn't see any of that."

"That's what I don't get. Sebastian doesn't see Cade when he's talking, when he can get to know the guy he's pining for."

It seemed off to Sonya; difficult or not, Sebastian should take advantage of opportunities to see all sides of Cade and spend more time with him. Not that Sonya wanted to give Sebastian an excuse to talk even more than usual but it really didn't seem right, Sebastian and Cade passing each other like that, like they didn't deserve any more.

"I think Sebastian probably thinks that Cade doesn't want to see him, that he's a reminder of how badly Cade's own mind can make him feel. Not even Dwayne can persuade him otherwise."

"It's like he's sabotaging himself."

"More like he doesn't want to stop helping Cade, maybe Cade won't come to the lab anymore once he sees Sebastian when he's not feeling low."

Doc Wade pointed a remote at one of her screens, preparing to change the subject, "Whatever choices Sebastian or Cade make, it's very complicated and we have to respect the fact that they may see more sides than we do."

Then she clicked the remote, like her 'back off' warning hadn't happened and got back to the case.

* * *

It was two months later before Chris wound up a phone call at the end of a case with a grin that could only mean bar-hopping.

"Cade wants to catch up. You in, Brody?"

"I can spare a few hours," Brody agreed with a grin, looking up from her report typing.

"King?"

"Bring him on over, Christopher, you know he's welcome."

Sonya hovered pointedly near Chris' desk, "A chance to see LaSalle Senior in his natural habitat and hear stories about baby Chris? Count me in."

Brody laughed and Chris pointed at Sonya like he was watching her. Later, he offered her a ride to the bar and Sonya eyed him consideringly as Chris twisted the car radio to a country station.

"I saw your brother in Sebastian's lab."

Chris nodded slowly, not looking worried, more like he was expecting her to say something else, "And you've got questions."

"Yeah. Does he really find _Sebastian_ soothing?"

Chris laughed and looked fond, like he always did when talking about Cade, "Hey, whatever works. It doesn't stop his moods turning but sometimes I know where he is and that, that's a relief."

"He likes hiding?"

"He likes running. Worries our Mom half to death. I spent years trying to find him. It's like he thinks he can outrun whatever's going on inside his head. Finally he's taking time to circle the same kind of spots, here in New Orleans and out there and beyond."

Sonya nodded, "And the crush Sebastian's nursing?"

Chris smiled, "Oh, we don't talk about that."

Sonya's expression wrinkled up, "Not even you? No little brother speech? Come on, this is a prime opportunity."

"Oh I know it, Percy, but whatever it is going on with Sebastian, he's doing a real good thing standing by my brother. You know how crazy he gets when people hang out in his lab and move things but he's letting Cade stay there long as he likes."

"Pretty big sacrifice."

"And I appreciate it. If Cade has anything going for Sebastian, he's not talking, in any mood, and believe me, while I'd love to get under his skin about it, the good thing going on there, I'm not screwing around with that."

Sonya could see why he wouldn't, even if it was such a waste, "I get it, though it's prime rib we're wasting."

"Means we've got to think of something even better."

Sonya laughed and found herself hoping that Sebastian was seeing friends that night too. Usually he was as social as everyone else on team nights. Seemed real unfair on him – staying away, just in case, like the risk was too great. Maybe it was, or wasn't and this was another paranoid theory of his, and everyone else too. All Sonya was sure about was that she'd never seen Sebastian look like that at anyone before. She could buy him a drink the next time he showed his face at Pride's bar, maybe she could do a little recon.

Wherever Sebastian was, he was probably thinking about Cade. It just didn't seem right. And urgh, such a damn waste.

 _-the end_


End file.
